THE DEPARTMENT of Education is expected to come under pressure to intensify efforts to counter cyber-bullying in schools after four students at Oatlands College, Dublin were suspended for posting abusive remarks about teachers on Facebook.
More than 40 other students at the school were given detention on a recent Saturday morning after tagging the offending material as a “like” on Facebook.
Sources say three teachers at the school were subject to “vile and completely baseless allegations” on the social networking site created by one fifth-year student and administered with three other pupils.
This 17-year-old and three other male pupils have been suspended for 20 school days by the school board of management, pending an investigation by the National Education Welfare Board.
The Oatlands board is expected to propose the expulsion of all four students when it reconvenes next month. The students in question can appeal any expulsion under section 29 of the Education Act.
Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn yesterday coincidentally announced details of a new anti-bullying forum that will address cyber-bullying as part of its remit.
The Oatlands incident came to light after pupils attended a school musical Hairspray over the St Patrick’s weekend.
The special Facebook page made abusive remarks of a sexual nature against both a male and female teacher. Abusive comments about the working hours of another teacher were also posted.
All of the three young teachers subject to the abuse are said to have been “hugely upset” and “distraught”. The offending material was taken down within 24 hours after a teacher at the school alerted the principal, Keith Ryan.
Mr Ryan said last night he was not in position to make any comment as the disciplinary process was ongoing. The school board chairman, Gerry Horkan – a local Fianna Fáil councillor – also declined to comment.
The decision to suspend the four pupils was taken by the school board of management after the four students involved were interviewed along with their parents.
Oatlands College in Stillorgan, which is run under the aegis of the Christian Brothers, is one of the best-known non-fee paying schools in Dublin. In recent years , the all-male school has seen a surge in enrolment, which has grown to over 500 pupils.
Irish Times careers expert Brian Mooney is a guidance counsellor at the school. He said he was prohibited from discussing the controversy because of his role on the school board of management.
The Oatlands controversy is the second serious case of cyber-bullying in south Dublin schools. Six years ago, the fee-paying Alexandra College suspended 14 students and gave another 20 three hours detention after they posted offensive material on another social networking site, Bebo.
Second-level students are routinely warned about the dangers of cyber-bullying as part of the Junior Cert social, personal and health education (SPHE) curriculum. However this forms only one part of a wide-ranging SPHE course which, teachers say, can be “crowded out” by other subjects in schools.
